Snape's Scare
by RainDropCropTop
Summary: Snape had never seen an anomaly like this, but the truth would both scare and intrigue him about his newest pupil. Revised.
1. Chapter 1

"Daniel, I'll have to speak to you after class," Snape almost barked at the front of the room. "You know you cannot make a habit out of this already bad practice."

Danny flinched when his name was called, sticking up from between desks like a twig. Smiling nervously, he rubbed his neck and took his seat in the middle of the already studying class.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Mr. Fenton?" The Professor didn't seem too keen on letting it go, putting down his books and giving the late student his undivided attention.

"American… navigational errors?" Danny's answer made a few of the students laugh, and Snape slammed his palm on a book to silence them.

"After class, Fenton." With swift, resounding authority, Snape strode back to his desk.

"What took you this long?" Malfoy, cupping his hand over his mouth, whispered to his classmate. His face was curved into a rare form of concern, but Danny knew why. He smiled slightly at the question, although he was doing it more sarcastically than anything else.

"It was Skulker this time, you know the one who wants to kill me?" He muttered, watching Snape cautiously as the man went back to grading papers. "He's getting better lately, or I'm getting worse. Can't really tell with the lack of sleep I've been getting lately."

"You said getting three times in the same sentence, It's probably the lack of sleep." Malfoy met Danny's eyes with his own. Bloodshot, with horrible bags underneath them, they flagged a physical reminder of how hard Danny had been working lately. "Seriously, we should get you some help or something." Danny just shook his head, opening his book.

Draco didn't miss the wince that accompanied it.

"I'm fine, I'm used to it anyways." Shrugging, the halfa tried to make some sense of the text in front of him. Malfoy sighed, going back to his own work. Soon, a ringing toll echoed through the halls, and the children all started to gather their things. Danny was no exception, stuffing the old book into his bag, ready to get out of-

"Daniel," Snape's voice boomed as the man made his way to the teen, "Where do you think you were going?" Danny knew he was caught after hearing his professor, and turned around slowly. Malfoy, who was trying to get him out, squeezed his friend's shoulder while he left him, joining the stream of students that seemed to vanish from Snape's room faster than anyone else's. Danny smiled shyly at his friend as he left, but now he was surrounded by the frigid harshness of the coldest teacher in the school. Alone. And very sore.

"Professor-"

"Don't bother." The man replied, clutching the bridge of his nose. "I just want an honest answer. Why are you always late or sleeping in my class?"

Danny paled and gulped at the question, not expecting that to come out of Snape's mouth. Where was all the scolding? Why was he asking questions before punishment?

"Daniel," He said, almost tempted to snap his fingers over the kid's head or something, he was always so- "ummmmph!" Snape managed a small cry as he was pushed across the room suddenly.

In that split second, he saw a glint of metal and a flash of light, and he heard a heartbreaking scream.

"Fenton, what is the meaning of-" Snape was stopped dead in his tracks for the second time in a minute.

There was a giant armored beast standing there, pulsing with green energy as it released similarly colored flames off of it's face like hair. It was covered in machinery of all kinds, but the main center of Snape's focus was on the limp body hanging in the monster's arms. It was tanned and in a black and white jumpsuit, covered in a white aura, and had a head of shocking white hair.

There was no mistaking the bruises, the bags under his eyes, and the tell tale face. Daniel Fenton was unmoving in a chokehold in the malevolent stranger's hands.

The stranger started laughing, looking at Danny in a manner that the professor could only interpret as predatory. Snape could sense the danger radiating off of it in waves, and with a few nasty spells, he banished it. Danny to dropped to the hard, wooden floor with a thump, groaning slightly.

A flash of light nearly blinded Snape as he darted to his pupil's side. The boy was just like normal, lying as a complete human on the floor in his robes. Fenton was hiding something, but the safety of his charge was of a greater priority.

Snape rushed Daniel to the infirmary, looking at every shadow in the hall and trying to figure out the boy in his arms.


	2. Chapter 2

"Danny, why?" Draco's voice was hollow, and Danny couldn't tell if it was an illusion. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well," Danny was hesitant, floating slightly in the air as his aura wavered around him. "You were telling me about mudbloods, and I-" Malfoy cut him off with a hug, squeezing his ghostly body tightly. "I thought you would… I thought you would hurt me."

"I would have." Malfoy glared at nothing, his voice taut with emotion. "But then I met you, Danny. You showed me what true companionship was, something that no one in this blasted school or my bloody home has shown me before. You were kind to me, without a catch, and you trust everyone to do good, even a horrible wizard like me."

Danny's hand went to Draco's cheeks, wiping the tears the silver haired teen didn't realize were falling down his face."

"I'm glad I can trust you, Draco," Danny whispered to him, the ghostly aura echoing around the empty room, "Because you deserve to be trusted for once in your life."

Danny's eyes opened, flashing a bright neon green for a fraction of a second before realising that he wasn't in danger anymore.

He remembered Snape, then…

"Skulker!" He yelled, immediately putting his hand over his mouth after the word came out. His sore throat. He forgot the feeling of asphyxiation in his ghost form a while ago, but having a giant metal hunting machine crush his windpipe was still going to hurt for a few days even with advanced ghost healing.

The infirmary, lined with various cots along the old stone walls, was unusually empty. Thanking whatever higher power that no one was there to hear him yell about a ghost, Danny tried to relax for a second and try to take it all in.

Had Snape seen him change?

Just as the question intruded on his mind, Danny raised his head to the sound of steady footfalls approaching.

"Fenton, just who is this Skulker?" Oh joy. Just the person Danny wanted to see. The wizard walked straight to Danny's bed, setting his long hands on the frame. The man's eyes seemed to pierce the boy's, like he was trying to read and figure out what kind of thing he was.

"Oh, uh, hi, professor," Danny stuttered, rubbing the back of his bruised neck in that nervous tick he was so fond of. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," Snape's voice was almost a snarl. "except for the fact that a ghost invaded my room, hurt my student, and destroyed my potions closet."

"Oh." Danny replied. He could only squirm awkwardly in the bed, trying to stitch together some kind of crazy explanation for what happened, but his head was throbbing like his neck, and he was getting tired already… Snape seemed to notice this, breaking his normally stone exterior to sit next to his charge and rub his back gently. Danny's face softened, looking at his Professor with wild disbelief in his eyes. Snape just put his normal grouchy face back on in a flash, huffing at his student.

"Tell another soul and I will make sure your experience at Hogwarts will be a bad one for the rest of the year."

"Crystal."

"Speaking of secrets, why did you not tell anyone of your half breed status?" At the question Danny froze, literally, causing little ice chunks to form in Snape's fingernails. He sent a look to his teacher that was pale and terrified, and the man could swear that his pupils were nonexistent with the amount of force they retracted in his eyes.

"Daniel," Snape sighed, "We won't hurt you, or let anyone else either, so why did you hide it?" Danny hung his head, holding himself protectively. The atmosphere seemed to fade, and the sensation of being jostled and hearing Snape's voice yell grew farther and farther away within Danny's own mind.

The inevitable happened after a few months of hiding his accident. Images of Maddie Fenton storming down the stairs, gasping as she stared in disbelief. Jack Fenton letting go of a weapon to sprint towards the portal.

Something had ripped it open, shrieking loudly as it fired blasts of energy out into the lab. Machinery crashed onto the floor as the attacks barely missed Danny. He snaked around in the air, firing beams of his own energy back at the beast. Somehow getting a clean hit, Danny darted towards the mass of ectoplasm, yanking the handle to the emergency doors.

They slammed shut with a bang, and the entire house seemed to sag in relief. Danny did so as well, leaning on the large, sturdy lever for support as he tried to recover. What was that thing, anyway? He didn't have time to think, though. A trap, thick ropes covered in anti-ectoplasmic polymer, fell on him and pinned him to the floor.

"Invisobill?" Maddie's voice was stern, but not apprehensive. She crept over to the portal, peering at Danny with thinly veiled curiosity. She tried to touch his arm, but he recoiled. "What are you?"

"Danny could feel his breathing pick up. He stepped back, feeling the words "molecule by molecule" repeat endlessly in the span of a few seconds. Then the both of them were distracted by the clang of a gun hitting the floor.

Jack stood speechless, jaw slack in awe as he stepped closer.

"Danny?"

"-anny? Daniel, please…" There was another voice, this one was different and faint. It was almost yelling, but Danny was stuck in the sticky solution covering the ropes. It was like some cruel spider's web, holding him hostage as his parents crowded around him.

"Danny, is that you?" The voice of his father and the other started to overlap, dragging him into a hazy part of his mind. Not able to tell which one was real, he tried to respond to both.

"Yes?"


End file.
